Follow the author of this article

Follow the topics within this article

Donald Trump admitted reimbursing $130,000 in hush money paid to the porn star Stormy Daniels by his personal lawyer, as it was reported that the lawyer's phones were monitored by the FBI.

Mr Trump said the payment was a "private agreement" intended to "stop false and extortionist accusations about an affair," stressing that the money did not come from his presidential campaign. The payment was made through his lawyer, Michael Cohen.

Last night, NBC News reported that Mr Cohen was monitored for weeks before the FBI raided his home, office and hotel room in early April.

There was at least one phone call from Mr Cohen to the White House. The FBI monitored what numbers he was calling, and which were calling him, but did not listen into conversations, according to the report.

Mr Cohen is under investigation, partly over the payment to Ms Daniels, and the FBI sought documents relating to that in the raids.

Mr Trump had previously publicly denied knowing about the payment.

But yesterday Rudy Giuliani, a member of his legal team, confirmed the president paid back Mr Cohen from one of his own accounts over a period of several months.

Rudy Giuliani and Donald TrumpCredit:
AP

In all, he transferred to Mr Cohen $470,000 when "incidental expenses" were included.

The disclosure appeared to be aimed at extricating Mr Trump from potential legal jeopardy amid suggestions Mr Cohen's payment to Ms Daniels could constitute an undeclared, excessive, and illegal donation to the president's campaign.

Individuals are limited in how much they can donate to a campaign but, if it was ultimately a case of Mr Trump donating to his own campaign, that would not be a violation.

However, the revelation opened up Mr Trump to claims that he had previously lied publicly about who made the payment.

On April 5 Mr Trump was asked on board Air Force One whether he knew about the $130,000 given to Ms Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.

In televised comments the president replied "No," adding that he did not know why Mr Cohen made the payment, or where he got the money from.

Mr Giuliani revealed that the president had reimbursed Mr Cohen during an interview on Fox News on Wednesday night, telling host Sean Hannity the money "was funneled through a law firm and the president repaid it".

He added that Mr Trump "didn't know about the specifics of it, as far as I know. But he did know about the general arrangement, that Michael would take care of things like this".

After Mr Giuliani's comments the president confirmed on Twitter that Mr Cohen had been "reimbursed" for making a "non-disclosure agreement" with Ms Daniels.

Such agreements were "very common among celebrities and people of wealth," he added.

Mr Trump said that "money from the campaign, or campaign contributions, played no roll in this transaction".

Mr Giuliani said: "It wasn't true (the affair). However, imagine if that came out on October 15, 2016, in the middle of the last debate with Hillary Clinton. Cohen didn't even ask (Mr Trump). Cohen made it go away. Cohen thought $130,000 was cheap. He did his job."

He said the repayment by Mr Trump "removes the campaign finance violation. Some time after the campaign is over they set up a reimbursement, $35,000 a month, out of his (Mr Trump's) personal family account".

Mr Giuliani added that Mr Trump was "probably not aware" of the payment to Ms Daniels at the time as he had given Mr Cohen "discretion to solve" such matters, and did not know all the details until "maybe 10 days ago".

Michael Avenatti, Ms Daniels' lawyer, said: "We predicted months ago that it would be proven that the American people had been lied to about the $130,000 payment and what Mr Trump knew, when he knew it, and what he did in connection with it.

"Every American, regardless of their politics, should be outraged by what we have now learned. Mr Trump stood on Air Force One and blatantly lied. Our case just got exponentially better. This is not about sex, this is about a cover up."

Some legal experts questioned Mr Giuliani's strategy. Mr Trump could still have committed a violation of campaign finance laws if he knowingly filed a report to the Federal Election Commission which did not include the initial payment by Mr Cohen to Ms Daniels, they said.

Sol Wisenberg, a prominent defence lawyer, said: "I don't understand the Giuliani strategy. It increases the president's exposure to potential campaign finance violations, but it also makes him look terrible."

Mr Giuliani said also Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, was "disposable" in the investigation being carried out by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russian election meddling.

But he said "the whole country will turn" on Mr Mueller if he targets Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter.